Those who pay enough attention to entertainment would know full well that Netflix has entered a serious financial crisis. The company's overwhelming production of content has dug them in a debt that grew exponentially in the early 2010s, and only recently has the bubble begin to burst. Many decisions from the top corporate figures, along with major drops in subscribers, has caused some big investors to jump ship, causing its stock to instantly drop by a whopping 36% last April. And one of those decisions, that has only after been publicized, was sadly related to animation. Specifically how many in-house crews they have laid off and awaited projects suddenly cancelled, and generally telegraphing that any originals they do currently have on aren't going to last. And if that wasn't egregious enough, it has been said that they'd prefer content that can be mass-produced and enjoyed by the lowest common denominator as opposed to catering to a wide variety of demos, as was the goal prior to these changes. This has brought to a brighter light than ever just how broken the animation industry on the whole has been run all this time, and with how little of this has actually been widely recognized, I think it's important to lay it out as best as I can.
To be clear, the western industry has seen some progress of note on many different fronts. Thanks to the rise of social media and the added transparency between the fans and employees, these stories of layoffs and overall crew mistreatment (which have been all too common forever) are more publicized than they have ever been allowed to be before. This outroar is enough to even get press sites' attention sometimes. A decade ago, the hype and subsequent injustice behind "Boons & Curses" would probably have forever remained quiet and obscure beyond talk on the inside, maybe some message boards. This goes double for when NewDeal4Animation started to build in traction, with more animation fans online becoming all to aware how abhorrently overworked they are simply by default. Speaking of unions, more studios like Titmouse have recently begun to unionize as part of the Animation Guild, and existing unions at studios like Bento Box and ShadowMachine have expanded to editorial and production teams. It's safe to say many crews are pushing as hard as they can and succeeding in places.
On a similar note, up and coming artists have more options for getting their stories out there than past generations. While certainly a heavy challenge requiring a crapton of commitment, we're seeing more opt to take the indie route, scrounging a small team together to develop a creative vision, likely crowdfunding down the road to really help it get off the ground. Not every attempt is successful, of course,, but it's certainly allowed us to get a glimpse at a world where animation has very little restraints to worry about. While the concept existed as long as the internet itself, it's safe to assume VivziePop's work was the shot that really convinced people that producing content on the same level of quality as your standard television affair is very feasible with the right approach, strategy, and dedication. Sure enough, in the past year or two there have been many promising projects start to take off, and people are more willing than ever to support these ventures. Some go even further, as seen with Kipo creator Rad Sechrist and friends' ProjectCityTV, hosting all these different animation classes in hopes of soon funding their own, innovative animated IPs. Time will tell how all these will end up, of course, but there's a crapton of promise to be found.
But for every advancement, there seems to be at least one area that regresses. Let's start by looking at the general process of an animation artist. Much of the time; storyboard, color, layout artists, and others of the sort are all essentially what used to be multiple different hats all packed into a handful of roles. The overwhelming nature of this is covered on my editorial of the ongoing NewDeal4Animation movement, so I'll try not to repeat myself too much here. Because animation is such a lengthy process, studios will set the deadlines for each part of the process at a level that is technically realistic but forces most everyone to tire themselves out with frequent crunch time. Doesn't help that there's a certain lack of understanding from the top brass on all the intricacy that goes into the art form, leading to them underestimating the workload of a standard show, let alone one like "The Owl House" or "Steven Universe" where everyone involved becomes dedicated to making the end product look as grand as possible.
On top of that, they are only able to work on a show for a few months to around a year, especially in the streaming age with how limited-run many new shows are. Even when there are multiple production seasons, they tend to not be continuous, waiting around for months in between and sometimes having to gather new crews to re-start. On the individual's end, the fact there is more demand than supply for these positions make the possibility of lengthy gaps between gigs very real as well, so it can feel like a coinflip if they'd be able to pay off their bills and debts. And if you get laid off? Tough luck, you'll have to go searching for work without any notice this time. They do get some monetary compensation but it only helps so much. And because of both the limited time per job on top of the ever-so-few opportunities for certain positions, rarely are they ever able to advance their roles beyond what they've already done.
There have been countless animated projects of note that have been blatantly mistreated in recent years alone, some much more so than others. To start with the most well-known example, "Nimona" was claimed to be 75% completed, with animation well underway, but it was all forced to be shelved when the Disney-owned Blue Sky was untimely shut down. However, that was at least lucky enough to get saved by Annapurna Studios the following year. "Infinity Train" and "Glitch Techs" weren't as fortunate; both of which, despite reportedly getting good viewership numbers, and being really well liked among their audiences, had their crews prematurely laid off with more material being fully scripted (and in the latter's case, fully voiced and put to animatic). And despite them never officially being cancelled, and the creators continuing to express interest in starting back up, there's no denying how dirty they were done. And lest we get all the promising projects at Netflix that got axed in the big layoff, including - but not limited to - Lauren Faust's "Toil & Trouble", the long-awaited animated "Bone" movie, and Jaydeep Hasrajani's "Boons & Curses", greenlit as part of a commitment to bring Asian-American stories to mainstream kids entertainment. Oof.
This even expands to the content itself. While creative freedom has always been stifled in the industry, some era more so than others, but at a time when more people (fans and artists alike) are expressing the need to push boundaries in storytelling, represent more diverse backgrounds, and cater to more niche demographics; these chances are often pulled right from under the rug, be it executive meddling within the show or a project simply getting buried altogether. Same goes for original ideas vs. relying on existing IPs. While I stand by we shouldn't automatically shoot down revivals and reboots, especially when they carry a strong creative intent, it's hard to deny that studios have become too reliant on reviving practically every property under the sun; all the while so many original ideas are shafted as they naturally have much more to prove from the offset. It doesn't help either that a pitch's success can depend entirely on whether the suits you're presenting to are having a good day or not.
It's ironic, since several animations both original and diverse that managed to reach mainstream have proven some of the most successful, beloved shows and films in recent years. Look at how record-breaking "Encanto" and "Turning Red" both became for Disney. There's definitely loads to profit to be gained on both fronts, especially long-term. But unfortunately, studios are so laser-focused on the short term that IPs which people will immediately recognize, regardless of any staying power down the road, always take precedent. It's why Disney preferred using Bardel Entertainment to keep the "Ice Age" series going after Blue Sky's closing, despite no demand nor much of a budget given. In many respects, the existence of these cash-grabs are what allow the lights to remain on within these studios, but there's such an importance to long-term retention that doesn't seem to get appreciated enough nowadays, no doubt in part due to how much Netflix has fostered a 'short-term binge, move on to the next thing' approach.
It seems the most dramatic change between cable and streaming, especially with the likes of Netflix, is the use of analytics. Traditional Nielsen data was pretty straightforward, measuring the number and percentage of households tuning into a specific airing. This was public data that anyone who searched deep enough could easily find. Even when VOD services rose among cable, often they'd also account for those to a point. However, with tech companies playing a more active role in streaming operations, it seemed they were more enabled to manipulate it in a way that matches their own preconceptions. Elizabeth Ito of "City of Ghosts" has most actively spoken against this, mentioning how what they were provided came across as staged to prove Netflix's point - a point they didn't receive beforehand. It doesn't help this content is often horribly under-marketed, but I've discussed that multiple times before.
In addition, the way the data is presented is often unclear as to what these creators are meant to actually get out of it. There's a distinct lack of transparency overall, not helped by them reportedly now focused on broad, lowest common denominator appeal and more corporate genres over making "everybody's favorite show", as was the studio's initial thesis. I can only guess, but it seems to me like Netflix makes it so their analytics look at which genres and demographics fare best when the real key to success is to cater to a wide mixture of them, but that's a discussion I'll save for a later editorial. I'm not going to knock the success of either "Big Mouth" or "The Boss Baby: Back in Business", but just because those get the most views doesn't mean people will want to see every show be like them. Let the broad-appeal fare remain in its corner while also look at which markets that have yet to be truly captured are worth investing in to get ahead of the competition. It's why their animation department was held in such a wide respect prior to all this, but evidently, those days are sadly long gone with how much they didn't account for how much their ambitions hemorrhaged money.
I think the worst thing about all this, at least to an outsider like myself, is the utter sense of powerlessness I get from every time artists and reporters report on this stuff. It seems every time a big disservice happens within the western industry, be it a series' premature cancellation/layoff or just dark clouds starting to loom across the field - disgruntled crew members come forward, and many friends also in the field, and express disgust over being robbed and shafted. They can even sometimes rally the public across Twitter and other places and get them on their side. The out-roar can sometimes become wide knowledge among these circles at the worst of times. But it seems no matter how endlessly this complaining goes on, executives just will not budge nor trust that the audience and creatives all agree what would make a show successful more than any business figures could say. Not to mention the threat of blacklisting if they get more direct about their complaints.
Another viscous, less documented part in all this is the cyclical nature of it all. Naturally, there's many young artists seeking to get their start in the animation industry, pretty much as their dream job, but as said before, not quite as many jobs actually open for them. The studio system essentially makes it so artists are constantly pitted against each other, each opening being very competitive. And even after they get these gigs, and they end up being dissatisfied with how they are being overall treated, the studios can easily just move on to the next in the long waiting list to be taken advantage of. This is only made more complicated when animation schools manage to thrive on artificial competition as well. This can even apply much further up the corporate ladder; there are executives who try and fight to break through the same ceilings the creatives strive to, but the nature of the corporate hierarchy limits what they may pull through. Put simply, the notoriously predatory nature of the entertainment industry has only become more so.
It's safe to say all that has gone on with Netflix Animation has shaken the entire community. They attracted all these talented artists under the promise of total creative control, only to pretty much stab most of them in the back - slowly at first, but with more cracks surfacing over time culminating in the big purge of layoffs. I'm sure many of the higher-ups there were reluctant to cut as heavily as they did, but not only did they let their massive debt pile up until it came time to hit the 'panic' button, the callousness of how they did it (and had been doing for years prior to lesser extents) is undeniably a huge blow to the industry's health. The BS reasons they provided like an inability to squarely class something as comedy or action are merely balances against insurance policies and other such excuses. And the tanked business reputation for the big streaming innovator as a whole is bound to spark a massive creative brain drain that will only further hurt their bottom line if they keep going down their current path.
Of course, all this is not at all helped by the scars of similar instances happening from other companies in the past couple years. And with NewDeal4Animation negotiations seemingly remaining at an impasse (it's believed the studios are deliberately stalling to give them more time to fight the medium's growing fighting power), I'll admit it's sometimes been hard for me not to feel hopeless about the state of things. But it just goes to show you how much the entertainment system relies on keeping the output as high as it can to remain profitable, which by design requires artists to be treated in-optimally. It sucks that those working pretty much have to be begrudgingly accept it, and it really feels like executives are the entire reason animation isn't more successful with the public. But business is business, as asinine as it may seem.
But let's get too wrapped in these negative vibes. What, you're likely asking, can we all do to help push the industry in a greater direction? Some good places to start, I'd say, involve simple interactions with the crew members. Re-post or share those you believe are saying something important or profound about the current state of the medium. On that note, toss in your own support to movements pushing for better treatment. Not just with the likes of NewDeal4Animation, but any that advocate for greater respect of the art form, be it the corporate or public light. Actively paying attention and giving traction to the teams and some individuals that stand out to you would also be of great benefit, as the more love their work gets, the less expandable they'd look. Try to officially support the media that catches your fancy if within reason, but don't give thanks to the business bodies behind them - rather the production companies and the crews within. And if you are especially fond of someone's contributions or their art in general, make a point to stand by and help push their future work. Not just for them but to potentially find more favorites to follow.
Don't keep the talk and following to just Twitter either. Hashtags and posts may be great for awareness, but they can only do so much on their own. Bring it up to anyone you think may be interested in further getting the word out. Engage in more media outlets that talk about animation. And most importantly, don't take the quality shows and films we are continuing to get (even from Netflix) for granted. Even if their fate is ultimately sealed, a little remembrance can go a long way. Rest assured, with how much things are continuing to evolve as we speak, some things are bound to change for the better. But if left unchecked, just as much could get worse for everyone and this is why it's downright vital for industry folk and lowly fans alike to pay attention to and speak up about all that's happening. There is power in numbers, and enough of a voice can and has sparked some valuable charge, even if it doesn't initially look like it might.
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